Faurecia Continues Mentoring for Students as Interactive Design Competition Advances

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Aug. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Faurecia (http://www.faurecia.com) today offered its continuing mentorship and support for 13 design students who were recently announced as finalists in the first phase of the Car Design News-General Motors vehicle interior design competition.  Faurecia is a sponsor of the interactive competition that challenges students to design a vehicle interior (phase 1 of the competition) and exterior (phase two).

The students' designs are based on briefs representing the four GM brands: Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC. GM Design and partner sponsors Faurecia and Dassault Systemes will select eight winners, who will earn internships at GM's Warren, Mich., studio and whose work will be honored at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in January.

A ninth student will be awarded an internship at a Faurecia design studio in Europe, Asia or North America. Faurecia judges will select their winner based on the entry's care for details, color and material solutions, research of perceived value, problem-solving ability, ingenuity, innovation, surprise, presentation quality and story-telling.

The judges announced these students as finalists in the phase 1 category for the interior designs they submitted based on briefs from each GM brand.

Buick
Hakan Demir, transportation design, College for Creative Studies
Michael McGee, transportation design, College for Creative Studies
Timothy Mann, transportation design, College for Creative Studies
Min Woo Song, transportation design, College for Creative Studies

Cadillac
Brandon Promersberger, industrial design, Cleveland Institute of Art
Tyler Bame, transportation design, Lawrence Technological University
Vitaly Pankov, industrial design, Gulf Coast Community College

Chevrolet
Kim DaeShik, automotive design, College for Creative Studies
Yuxin Wang, automotive design, College for Creative Studies
Patrick Vanderpool, transportation design, Academy of Art University

GMC
Tianye Wang, automotive design, College for Creative Studies
TJ Edmison, transportation design, College for Creative Studies
Brook Banham, MFA transport design, College for Creative Studies

Each finalist's design is displayed on the Car Design News competition website at www.cardesigncontest.com.  The finalists will be allowed to continue to build on their entries as the competition moves forward.

Faurecia Industrial Design Manager Olivier Boinais will continue to mentor the finalists in the interiors competition.  At the same time, Faurecia Industrial Design Manager for Automotive Exteriors, Fredrick Bois, will mentor those who enter the exteriors design competition.

"The interiors competition brought forth some truly stunning design concepts, and we anticipate the vehicle exterior designs will be equally spectacular and eye-opening in their innovation," said Bois. "Offering guidance to this upcoming generation of vehicle designers is both a pleasure and a commitment for Faurecia, as we pursue an ever evolving excellence in technology and design."

Entries for phase 2 of the design competition may now be submitted via the website. Students at schools in the U.S. and Canada at any level, from undergraduate to doctoral, and in any design discipline -- including architecture, product design and industrial design -- may post their designs at www.cardesigncontest.com. Judges, mentors, other students and readers of Car Design News then may comment on the work, which the student may further develop, based on the design-community feedback.

For the latest updates on Faurecia's involvement with the competition and other activities throughout North America, connect with the company at http://www.facebook.com/faureciaNA and http://www.twitter.com/faurecia_NA.

About Faurecia North America
Faurecia North America had sales of $3.4 billion in 2010. The Group has 32 production sites in the United States, Canada and Mexico and employs more than 10,000 people in the region. It has four technical and development centers, situated in Auburn Hills, Holland and Troy, Mich., and in Columbus, Ind., as well as a customer center in Toledo, Ohio.

About Faurecia
Faurecia is the world's sixth-largest automotive supplier with four key Business Groups: Automotive Seating, Emissions Control Technologies, Interior Systems and Automotive Exteriors. In 2010, the Group posted total sales of $18.22 billion. The company is headquartered in Nanterre, France, with its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. It employs 75,000 people in 33 countries at 238 sites and 38 R&D centers. Faurecia is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris stock exchange. For more information, visit: www.faurecia.com

SOURCE Faurecia